The International Politics of East Asia

Second year module

In this module, students will learn about key states involved in contemporary East Asian politics. Specifically, they will examine the role of the United States, Japan, China, South Korea and key regional institutions.

The semester two module will explore core themes and issues in the international politics of East Asia: relevance of sovereignty forms of governance, role of regional NGOs, implications of political change for interstate relations and domestic and regional security, ethnic politics, regional hotspots, peacekeeping, fallout of Asian financial and economic crisis, forms of capitalism, and development of regionalism.

Learning outcomes

At the end of the module the student should be able to:

Identify and analyse the key factors and structures involved in contemporary East Asian politics.

Demonstrate knowledge of issues affecting the international politics of East Asia.

Analyse the inter-relationship of inter-state, sub-state, and intra-regional dimensions of the international politics of East Asia.

Appraise developments in East Asia on the basis of primary and secondary sources, including web-based ones.

use effectively, as appropriate, concepts drawn from international relations.